Business travel

Turkish Airlines

Red allowed

May 9th 2013, 15:52by A.B.

GULLIVER wrote at the weekend about Turkish Airlines' ban on the wearing of red nail varnish or lipstick by its flight attendants. But at a briefing today, the airline's chief executive, Temel Kotil, said there was in fact no ban after all. Apparently some "low-level" managers put together a paper on the topic, which was then leaked to the media. Flight attendants can wear all the red they want, explained Dr Kotil—"We are a global carrier."

This is a bit peculiar. The company issued a statement about the ban—saying that it was aimed at keeping cabin crew "unpretentious" and "well-groomed"—on May 2nd. But now a week later, after considerable backlash in Turkey, it is said that the ban did not have the approval of the chief executive. Why did Turkish Airlines let this story percolate around the news media for so long without an official denial? "Some domestic decisions look strange from outside," said Dr Kotil.